Gunmen kill five construction workers in southern Afghanistan

At least four Pakistani road construction workers and an Afghan colleague were killed by unknown gunmen in the southern province of Kandahar Thursday, officials said, DPA reported.

Three attackers on motorbikes opened fire on the workers as they were en route to a construction site in the Panjwayee district of the province on Thursday morning, deputy provincial police chief Mohammad Shah Farooqi said.

The workmen were employed by Saita, a Japanese road construction company building a road linking the district to Kandahar, the provincial capital city.

Farooqi said the five victims were Pakistanis. However, the Afghan Interior Ministry said that one was an Afghan national. Another Afghan and a Pakistani worker were injured in the attack, the Ministry said.

Kandahar was the birthplace of the Taliban movement, where the group's leader, Mullah Omar, had his main headquarters until late 2001. The province is still one of the hotspots for the insurgency.

Attacks on foreign nationals are on the rise in the country. Nine Indian nationals and two Europeans were killed in a bomb attack on two guesthouses in centre of Kabul city on Friday.